Bishop David Zubik, who hadn't attended for about 25 years prior to becoming bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh in September, was overwhelmed last night at the overflowing crowd more than 8,000 people, most of them young. Teens and college students sat in the aisles and in every available nook and cranny of the immense church. Hundreds would sleep on the floor in the crypt church below, and others in buildings that the adjoining Catholic University of America made available. Nearly 100 busloads of people were known to be coming to Washington from Southwestern Pennsylvania, although many would not arrive until after the sunrise today.
The bishop was astounded both at how much the crowd had grown in 25 years, and how young most of those present were. In all likelihood, half of them hadn't been born when he last attended. According to organizers, many of the teens had fasted all day as part of their prayer to end abortion -- which kept the volunteer medical staff tending to some who passed out in the crowded church.
"This is such a proclamation of people's conviction of how sacred life is," said Bishop Zubik. He had attended as a newly ordained priest, but duties in Catholic schools soon kept him home. When he joined the diocesan administration in the 1980s, he stayed back to help keep the diocese running while the bishop attended the vigil and march. When he became bishop of Green Bay, Wis., in 2003 he participated in right to life events there, but it was too far to travel to the nation's capital. Now that he has returned as bishop of his hometown diocese, he is finally free to attend.
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